Cable HD capture - wrong aspect ratio

[edu]

I capture some HD program with Firewire and Sony Digital8 as pass-through with WinDV set to AVI-1. The resulting picture is 4:3 so the the images are longer vertically. I was able to stretch it to 16:9 using Dr. Divx but the audio became distorted. Sounds like a 45rpm record played on 133rpm. I will appreciate any help or direction to the proper guides and software. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

Are you converting to divx with mp3 audio? or?

[edu]

Yes. Thanks.

But I think I solved the problem using TmpgencPlus and converting it to MPEG2

[edu]

Any suggestion on how to capture wide HD so that the resulting AVI is also 16:9? It will save me time in creating the DVD. Or it will be the same length of time regardless?[/quote]

[edDV]

What are you capturing from? The S-Video NTSC output from the cable box? That would be normal letterboxed NTSC.

A Digital 8 camcorder will only pass through normal 4:3. The camera section has the ability to originate a 16:9 flagged image but not the VCR pass-through mode.

Why wouldn't this just be a normal NTSC (or PAL) capture?

[edu]

What are you capturing from? The S-Video NTSC output from the cable box? That would be normal letterboxed NTSC.

A Digital 8 camcorder will only pass through normal 4:3. The camera section has the ability to originate a 16:9 flagged image but not the VCR pass-through mode.

Why wouldn't this just be a normal NTSC (or PAL) capture?

I am capturing from video out (one RCA-not component) so the AVI is not really HD. Though the movie is HD wide. I want to know if there is a capture program that will make the AVI in 16:9 size on the spot. It will save me some time in stretching it afterwards. So, perhaps it's the limitation of the camcorder being used as pass-through. Thanks.

[edDV]

What are you capturing from? The S-Video NTSC output from the cable box? That would be normal letterboxed NTSC.

A Digital 8 camcorder will only pass through normal 4:3. The camera section has the ability to originate a 16:9 flagged image but not the VCR pass-through mode.

Why wouldn't this just be a normal NTSC (or PAL) capture?

I am capturing from video out (one RCA-not component) so the AVI is not really HD. Though the movie is HD wide. I want to know if there is a capture program that will make the AVI in 16:9 size on the spot. It will save me some time in stretching it afterwards. So, perhaps it's the limitation of the camcorder being used as pass-through. Thanks.

The cable box ouputs a letterboxed NTSC format. The black bars are in the video. Capturing 4:3 analog NTSC as you are, you will get the letterboxed format.

Conversion of letterbox to full frame can be done in two ways, each with compromises

1. Zoom vertically, crop off the sides. This results in possibly half of the action falling off screen.

2. Zoom vertically, manually scene by scene frame the action. This is known as Pan and Scan. This would take editing software on the level of Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas. Easier to just buy the full screen DVD with pan and scan already done or just live with the letterbox.

A variation on #1 above is to burn the DVD with letterbox. Then, use the zoom feature on a DVD player to set the best crop to your taste.

[edu]

The captured AVI is not letter-boxed. It's 16:9 stretched vertically as 4:3, images are distorted. Like I said, I was able to make it 16:9 encoding it to MPEG2, which step I want to avoid because I want to create the DVD from the uncompressed AVI. The upside is I am able to tweak the bitrate and some filters. Thanks for the suggestions. BTW, I am talking about live concert being broadcast in PBS. They are 16:9 HD. Are there HD programming in 4:3? [/quote]

[edDV]

OK I'm beginning to understand.

I'm not clear how you got a horizontally squeezed, full vertical 16x9 recording from a NTSC composite or S-Video input but you say this is now in a DV-AVI file. This would be similar to what you would have if you shot 16x9 on your Digital8 camcorder.

Next question, what is your TV? An EDTV or HDTV should be able to display such a DV-AVI file in 16x9 as it is.

Any suggestion on how to capture wide HD so that the resulting AVI is also 16:9? It will save me time in creating the DVD. Or it will be the same length of time regardless?

It seems to me that you are describing a 16x9 DV-AVI file. There may be some file header confusion resulting from the way it was captured.

BTW: It is impossible to get HD captures through a Digital8 camcorder. You are capturing normal NTSC or PAL via the composite or S-Video inputs to the camcorder. The horizontally squeezed format you are describing normally only appears on the analog component or digital outputs of a cable box.

[edu]

The source video is 16:9 but the captured AVI is 4:3. The truth is, the composite connection (perhaps the S-Video,too) from the cable box also outputs 16:9 when connected to a VCR or a TV. I can see that it is 16:9 on TV although not HD. But on the camcorder's screen it is squeezed to 4:3. So it is the problem of the pass-through camcorder obviously.

I do not have a jack in my PC where I can directly connect the composite or S-Video plug to really test if I can capture 16:9 on the spot. But like I said, I was able to stretch the 4:3 AVI to 16:9 by encoding it to MPEG2. The images look normal again.

I have 16:9 HDTV and HD cable box using component cables.

[dphirschler]

This is called anamorphic distortion. Consider this normal if you want to author a 16x9 DVD. When viewed on your 16x9 TV, it will be stretched horizontally to fill the screen. When viewed on a 4x3 TV, 60 pixel plack bars will be added to the top and bottom. If you want to throw away some detail you can force the correct aspect by resizing it to 720x360 and adding 60 pixel black bars manually. NTSC. PAL will be different of course.


Darryl

[edDV]

OK, major communication issues here. Is your goal 16x9 display or 4x3?

If 16x9, you are very lucky that your cable box outputs a properly 16x9 formatted NTSC composite output. This is rare. That is what you want, a horizontally squeezed DV-AVI. You are all set to produce a widescreen DVD.

If a 4x3 DVD is your goal then the above applies.

It would help if you would have described your goal if it is to display on a HDTV in widescreen. Be specific what you are asking for and what kind of display you are targeting.

Using NTSC capture, the resoulution will be reduced (i.e. ~500x480 vs. 1280-1920x1080) but that may be your only choice.

Please tell us which model HDTV cable box you are using?

[edu]

This is called anamorphic distortion. Consider this normal if you want to author a 16x9 DVD. When viewed on your 16x9 TV, it will be stretched horizontally to fill the screen.

Darryl

Does it mean I can go ahead and author the DVD with the distorted MPEG2(converted from AVI)? I use Roxio to create DVD. I like it because it is not very technical. Is there a setting or configuration in the authoring process that I should know about so that the resulting image is not also distorted? Thanks.

[thecoalman]

Try restream, you can change the mpeg file header to 16:9. It depends on how your authoring software works too. If you sepecify 16:9 it should convert the file info to 16:9 on the opther hand if you use something that let's you skip converting comliant files it wll probably create it as 4:3.

The best solution IMO is try using capturing software that let's you specify that it's 16:9 when capturing and make sure you maintain that throughout your processing.

I'm not sure that Roxio supports 16:9, I had an older version that I know didn't.